Sierra Leone votes
Sierra Leone is still recovering from its prolonged and bloody civil war
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Saturday, 11, Aug 2007 08:36
Voting has begun in Sierra Leone as the west African state seeks to renew its recovery from its 1991-2002 civil war.
Elections are taking place for both the country's parliament and its presidency, but attention is focussing on the latter race as favourite Solomon Berewa faces a stiff challenge.
Mr Berewa, who has served as vice president under current leader Ahmed Tejan Kabbah, is the frontrunner for the Sierra Leone's People's party (SLPP).
Many citizens feel angry about his involvement in Mr Kabbah's government, which has made little progress in tackling widespread progress since the civil war ended in 2002.
Over 100,000 people died in the conflict and, both during and after, Mr Kabbah's two-term administration has been widely accused of slowing Sierra Leone's recovery through endemic corruption at every level.
The 2.6 million voters, making up around half of Sierra Leone's population, have until 17:00 local time (18:00 BST) to cast their vote, according to the AFP news agency.
Analysts are tipping the biggest challenger, Ernest Koroma of the All People's Congress, to do well as a result.
If no candidate from the seven parties running succeeds in winning 55 per cent of the vote a run-off ballot will take place at a later date.